I agree. Although I have a fair amount of experience with firearms, not so much with handguns. That's why I prefer a wheel gun for home protection; they almost always work and in my opinion are much safer, especially for someone with limited firearm experience like my wife. Point, pull trigger. I have a good friend whose daughter-in-law shot herself in the leg trying to chamber a round in a .25 auto. It scared the intruder away, but the hard way.
Hate to say this, but she violated several of the the 4 rules of gun safety.
Rule number one: "All guns are always loaded." They should be treated as if they are.
Rule number two: “ Do not let the muzzle cross anything you are not willing to destroy” is pretty self-explanatory. If the muzzle is pointed at anything that is of value, be it a human, a pet,
a body part, or an inanimate object, it will cause death, damage, or great bodily harm if the gun were to be discharged.
Rule number three: “Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and ready to fire” is perhaps the most often violated rule. If individuals are not trained in this manner, they can often be seen picking up guns with the finger immediately going into the trigger guard. The finger should be completely out of the trigger guard and placed along the frame rail of the firearm. Even if the finger is off the trigger but left along the edge of the trigger guard, sympathetic muscle movement can cause the finger to retract on to the trigger, with the results being a negligent discharge.
Rule four: “Be sure of your target and beyond” is a rule with two parts. The first part refers to the target. The second is the area behind and beyond the target. If there is not a proper backstop or clear area behind the target, the bullet can miss, or pass through, the target and cause damage in unintended areas and to bystanders.
She violated rule 2 and 3 for sure, and possibly rule 4. And yes, the "manual of arms" for a revolver is somewhat simpler for people that do not practice with and routinely fire their weapons to understand and comply with. And while this is a personal opinion, I don't own any .25 auto's, as I feel they are totally inadequate for personal defense, and are difficult to manipulate, especially under stress. Unfortunately someone gave her the .25 auto on the theory a woman needs a small firearm. Nothing could be further from the truth. A nice 4 inch revolver would have been a much better choice, or a good 9mm auto of which she was familiar and practiced with.
We think nothing of requiring drivers education in school to teach a person to drive, or we practice driving skills with our loved ones for as long as it takes until they are skillful enough to drive safely, yet we will give a firearm to our loved one, with perhaps only cursory or even no instruction, and expect them to somehow magically be safe and effectively use it. Why is that?
